Qantas Airways announced Wednesday that it will switch from a Boeing 747-400 to the larger Airbus A380 on its Sydney-Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport route on Sept. 29.

That means that Qantas will become the first carrier to operate an A380 on a DFW route. Emirates Airline begins its A380 flights two days later, on Oct. 1.

Both carriers will use Terminal D's gates 15 and 16, now being remodeled to handle the world's largest passenger jet.

For Qantas, the substitution of the A380 for the Boeing 747 means that travelers back to Australia will now be able to fly to Sydney nonstop. While prevailing winds allow the Sydney-DFW flight to operate nonstop, Qantas had to operate the return portion from DFW to Brisbane because the 747 did not have the range to reliably fly nonstop back to Sydney. The A380 does.

In Qantas' announcement, Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said scheduling changes have enabled Qantas to use its aircraft more productively and made it possible to deploy an A380 to the Dallas/Fort Worth route.

"Dallas has become an important gateway for Qantas customers since we started flying there in 2011. It is the hub for our partner American Airlines and offers more than 30 destinations beyond the west coast of the United States as well as parts of Canada and Mexico on their network," Joyce said.

"When you combine the A380 with the onward connections available from Dallas, this is a great example of the right aircraft on the right route," he added.

While the change puts more seats on the route, Qantas will cut the frequency from one flight a day to six flights a week, with no service on Thursday. Even so, Qantas said the change will mean 10 percent more seats per week on the route.

D/FW Airport CEO Sean Donohue called the announcement "outstanding news for our Airport and the Dallas/Fort Worth region, because it adds more seats to what has become a very popular and important route."

At present, the Boeing 747-400 is the largest passenger jet serving D/FW Airport. Qantas' 747-400 has just over 350 seats, compared to 484 on the A380.

To post a comment, log into your chosen social network and then add your comment below. Your comments are subject to our Terms of Service and the privacy policy and terms of service of your social network. If you do not want to comment with a social network, please consider writing a letter to the editor.